Paola is a fund-of-funds investment specialist with a +25 year experience. After working in the investment funds department of Banque Privée Edomond de Rothschild (Luxembourg), Paola joined the European Investment Bank (EIB) in 1995. During her 24 year tenor with the EIB Group, her work mostly focused on fund of funds investments in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. Besides the investment activity she has conceived and developed new and innovative initiatives such as: (i) Boost Africa (a joint initiative between the European Investment Bank, the African for Development Bank and the European Commission focusing on supporting the nascent African Venture Capital industry through fund of funds investments and capacity building programmes for first time fund managers); (ii) the Space for Med Acceleration Programme (a knowledge transfer mechanism between the European Space Agency and MENA entrepreneurs); (iii) the MENA Seed Accelerators Facility (a capacity building programme for the newly created MENA accelerators in the wake of the Arab Spring).

Having retired from the European Investment Bank in September 2019, she is currently active advising fund managers worldwide. She is a coach with the International Climate Finance Accelerator, a public-private initiative promoted by the Luxembourg Government that supports emerging fund managers focusing on climate adaptation and mitigation related investments. She is a member of the Investment Committee of ANAVA, the Tunisian Fund of Funds. She is a senior advisor with Avanz Capital Egypt, an Egyptian asset management company. She is a coach in IFADA, a USAID funded programme to support the emergence of first time fund managers in Jordan and Iraq.

She holds a First Class Honours Degree in Classical Humanities from the Open University.

 

Steven J. Sobak currently serves as a Hospital Development and Management Consultant/Advisor for various know organizations  involved in performing “due diligence” reviews, Feasibility Studies, and Financial Modelling, as well as teaching in the area of Business Continuity Management. He currently  has over 47 years experience in Healthcare. He held the position of Chief Operating Officer at the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) since 2010 through June 2016, and previously as Chief Financial  Officer (CFO) from 2007-through December 2008.

 

From April 2007 through June 2015, he concurrently served in the position of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Singapore Cord Blood Bank (SCBB), responsible for the strategic business direction of the non-profit organisation inclusive of its overall operations and performance.  This encompassed Budget Planning, Fundraising/Financing, Audit Reporting and Stakeholder Relations.

 

From 1996 through 2006, he was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).  During his tenure at KKH, he managed a portfolio with direct responsibility for Operational Support Services in Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Services, Facilities Management, Food and Catering, Materials Management, Patient Transport and Office Support, Retail Services, Telecommunications and Security, Information Management, Document Management Services, Financial Services (Finance, Business Office, Admissions), Quality Service Management, and Emergency Planning, within the Hospital as required while developing key Administrators to assume specific portfolios within KKH, as well as future Hospitals.

 

Between 1989 and mid-1994, he served as Financial Controller and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Singapore General Hospital (SGH), and  CFO at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) during their respective Restructuring transitions. While at SGH, he also introduced the concept of Patient Financial Counseling, which has since been enhanced over the years and adopted by all hospitals in Singapore. Between 1994 and 1996, was CEO at two private general acute hospitals in Malaysia (Malacca, and Batu Pahat).

 

During the period from 1969 through 1989, Mr. Sobak has worked in the United States, Middle East, Philippines, in varying capacities from Accountant through CFO, and Consultant in the healthcare industry.He served active duty in the US Army, Artillery, as a Fire Direction Control and Intelligence Specialist in 1970 through 1971.

 

Mr Sobak holds a Masters Degree in Finance and a Bachelors Degree in Business Management, and is also the co-Author of “An Investor’s Guide to Developing a Private Hospital – Ten Considerations before Committing”, (2014) Partridge Publishing.  He has also made many presentations in both healthcare related topics as well as Business Continuity Management/Projects.

Dr. Sarper H. Tanli  has a long and successful career in healthcare, having begun as a physician in Istanbul in 1990 and subsequently earned a distinguished reputation as an expert in the field of healthcare planning and development.

 

He brings an outstanding track record in medical and healthcare management and operations across the United States, Turkey and latterly Dubai as both Director of Harvard Medical International and Vice President of Houston Methodist Global Health Care Services.

 

He was one of the leading executives establishing Dubai Health Care City and multiple outpatient centers in Dubai and various greenfield healthcare development projects in the Middle East and Turkey. He had created multiple clinical and academic collaborations between major medical institutions.

 

Previously, he has launched and grown a home care company employing 200 nurses in Turkey. He has acted as a trusted advisor to the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee to Manzil since 2013. He led Manzil Healthcare Services as Group CEO and grew the company to more than 500 employees, active in three countries until early 2020. He holds a PhD and a Master in Healthcare in addition to his Medical Degree.

With expertise in business development, strategy, and turnaround work, Karen is a recognized leader focused on ensuring corporate viability and growth through driving operational excellence and digital transformation of care. As President/Chief Executive Officer of Sinai Chicago, the city’s largest private safety net healthcare system with over $1 billion in revenues, Karen oversaw a successful turnaround of financial, philanthropic, and operational performance. Results to date show a year-over-year improvement profitability, taking the organization from a loss of $42 million to a profit of $10.7 million, improved EBIDA from a negative $14.8 million to a positive $33.8 million and increased philanthropy from $2.3 million annually to $10.9 million.  During this time, she recruited and developed a high-performing, nationally recognized, diverse executive team.  Karen previously served as the Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer at Sinai, overseeing the successful acquisition and integration into the System of a private hospital.

 

An early career entrepreneur, after purchasing a rehabilitation services firm in which she held a leadership role, Karen grew the company over the next four years into the largest of its kind in metropolitan Chicago before selling it to a publicly traded firm.  Following the sale of her company, Karen held increasingly responsible positions in nonprofit and for-profit companies, including a global life-sciences corporation. Karen is an influential participant in state and national legislative policy-making agendas, working with legislators of both the Senate and Congress.  She has formed strategic relationships with non-healthcare partners, including a major academic institution and a real estate development firm, creating assets in underdeveloped urban areas.

 

Karen is an independent board member of Advantia Health, serving as Chair, Compensation Committee and as a member of the Quality Committee.  Advantia is a privately held, growth oriented national company committed to transforming women’s health services facilitated by technology and best practices in quality and operations.  She also serves as a board member and global health advisor for Blink Science, a biotechnology and digital platform startup focused on innovative technology providing accurate and instantaneous diagnosis of Covid-19.  Karen serves as a mentor to physicians and administrators in healthcare, both in the United States and in Kenya.

 

Karen serves on civic, state, and national boards. She is the 2021 Chair of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association Board, having served as Chair of the Finance Committee and as a member of the Executive, Governance and Health Equity Committees. Karen is a board member of America’s Essential Hospitals, serving on the Governance Committee and having chaired the Board Equity work group, the Chicago-Cook County Innovation Workforce Development Board as a mayoral appointee, and the University of Illinois at Chicago MHA Advisory Board, as the program’s first Executive in Residence for the Master’s in Health Administration/ School of Public Health program.  Previous work includes American Hospital Association task force participation in maternal-fetal health and critical access care, where she currently serves as a regional policy delegate.

 

Awards include “One of 10 Business Leaders to Watch in 2020” by the Chicago Tribune, twice named to Crain’s Chicago Business “Notable Women in Chicago Healthcare” list, the Weizmann Institute “Women of Science” award, and a recipient of the National Medical Fellowship “Leadership in Healthcare” award.   She is a member of the Chicago Network, the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Economic Club of Chicago, the Union League Club of Chicago, and Kellogg Executive Women’s Network. Karen holds an MBA from Northwestern University, J.L. Kellogg School of Management. She is a frequently requested national speaker, world traveler, avid bicyclist, and cook. She resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Ruben Toral is a healthcare branding and marketing executive with over 25 years experience building healthcare businesses, hospital brands and physician networks in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. Ruben is a principal with Intermedika Consulting, providing advisory services to private hospitals, healthcare investors, and governments around the world.

 

Recognized as the “man behind the Bumrungrad brand”, Ruben is credited for his pioneering role in developing and promoting medical tourism globally, and positioning Bumrungrad International Hospital as the icon for the industry. He works with leading private equity firms, hospitals, insurers, health-tech start ups, and medical promotion boards that include the Dubai Health Authority, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Invitae, and Barings among others.

 

An accomplished speaker and writer on the topics medical tourism, healthcare globalization, hospital marketing and branding, Ruben’s insights appear in business publications (Fast Company, Business Week, Modern Healthcare, Financial Times) in books (Aerotropolis: How We Will Live Next) and blogs (Medeguy, International Medical Travel Journal).

 

Ruben is an external advisor to the Joint Commission International Task Force on Globalization, and past President of the International Medical Travel Association. Ruben resides in Bangkok, Thailand and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Karen Tay Koh has extensive experience in private and public sector organizations in Finance, Healthcare and Education, with multiple assignments across the globe.

 

Karen is appointed to the Boards of HSBC Bank Singapore Limited, Manulife US Real Estate Management Pte Ltd, SGX-listed Banyan Tree Holdings, Red Pencil Singapore and BC Platforms AG, a world leader in genomic data management.  Previous board appointments include Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation, EDB Investments, Singapore, Falck, Denmark, the largest privately-owned global ambulance and emergency services provider; and the Corporation of Northeastern University, Boston USA.

 

Karen was Deputy CEO of SingHealth from 2001-8, then Singapore’s largest public delivery network, and concurrently Deputy CEO of Singapore General Hospital from 2003.

 

The first 19 years of Karen’s career were in Singapore’s Ministry of Finance and agencies, primarily in fiscal policy, corporate regulation and international finance.

 

Karen holds a BA (Hons) Economics, University of Cambridge and a Master in Public Administration /International Tax Program (Certificate) from Harvard University. She was a Singapore President’s Scholar and Overseas Merit Scholar, and was awarded a Medal of Commendation by the National Trade Union Congress in 2008.

A graduate in economics of the University of Applied Sciences, Worms/Germany, Thomas started his career in the pharmaceutical industry at Schwarz Pharma AG, Germany, as a management trainee and moved into the position of Area Manager Far East, where he gained his first experience with Asian / Pacific markets. Attracted by the dynamic of the Asian pharmaceutical markets, Thomas joined Bayer AG in 1994 and was appointed Chief Representative Vietnam. He built up the Vietnamese business for Bayer Pharma from scratch, including a country-wide marketing & sales organization. After 5 years in Vietnam, Thomas returned to the Bayer headquarters in Leverkusen and joined the Strategic Planning Department as a business analyst and later established a new department focusing on Strategic Analysis and Functional Excellence. In 2002, Thomas returned to Asia as the General Manager of Bayer Healthcare Indonesia. Anticipating the phenomenal growth of branded generics across Asia, he joined Actavis as the President Director and Vice President Asia/Pacific in 2004, where he managed a staff of over 1,000 employees with manufacturing sites in Indonesia and China, and successfully entered several countries such as Australia, Singapore and Vietnam by establishing local country organizations.

Thomas left Actavis in 2014 to join Accord Healthcare, and three years later Glenmark Pharmaceuticals as Vice President for Asia. In 2019, he co-founded Augxano, a boutique consulting firm focusing on strategy consulting and product licensing for pharmaceutical companies based in Singapore.